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The article analyzes one of the aspects of the domestic Caucasian policy of the Russian Empire which facilitates the involvement of the territory and the population in the all-Russian socio-political field in this article. Resettlement policy became one of the forms of integration. The result of this practice was not only economic development of the region, but also a change in its socio-demographic background by resettling mainly the East Slavic population with the aim of strengthening the Russian component in the social structure of the population. Russian policy of settlement of the prairies regions of the North Caucasus, having the colonization in nature, has not only become one of the main factors of national, social and religious variegation of the region. One of the key components of migration was the religious aspect. Focusing on the religion of immigrants, the Russian government has contributed to the spread of not only the Orthodox religion in the region, but also the appearance here of the sectarians. There were not only geographical and political reasons to the growth of sectarian communities but also their ability to mimic characteristics of the North Caucasus region. But Dagestan was an exception in this process because he suffered from shortage of land. Gradually, Russian sectarianism acquired features of symbiosis with Western Protestantism, outlining itself around the poly-confessional ideological competitive space. In this regard the author supposes to recreate the factors of the emergence of sectarians in the national region as a serious opponent in the spiritual life of the Russian population that have become today not only a part of the religious picture of Dagestan society, but also a subject of socio-political discussions at the present time by synthesizing historical events. The subject of this research is the analysis of the existing features and their impact on the demographic situation in the region. Under the name “Dagestan” we will mean its present geographical position. This fact is logical to apply to the end of the 19 – the beginning of the 20 centuries, when, for example, the stanitsas of Kizlyar, Tarumovsky and Khasavyurt districts were attributed to Dagestan, although administratively they belonged to Terek region.

Key words: migration, migration policy, sectarians, colonization, Russian empire, North Caucasus, Dagestan 

DOI: 10.22250/2072-8662.2019.1.38-46

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About the author

 

Olga B. Khalidova – PhD (History), Researcher at the Institute of History, Archaeology and Ethnography of Dagestan Scientific Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences;

367030, Dagestan Republic, Makhachkala, M. Yaragsky st., 75; This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.